17 September, 2014
Hey everyone!
Well, today's our P Day, and while it's kind of weird to
have a P Day on Wednesday, it's been a good one so far. We woke up early this
morning to go help teach the seminary class at the church. It was pretty fun.
We got free cupcakes out of it too, which helped. Today we're driving down to Sacramento
because Elder R. has an appointment. It’s
nice to get a change of scenery.
P Day is today because on Monday we went to a half-mission
conference where Elder Nielson from the quorum of the 70 instructed us on how
to use members more in missionary work. According to our numbers, over half our
baptisms come from talking to less active members and getting referrals from
them. So now we've been told to visit every less active on our lists before we
even think about knocking doors, which is fine by me.
He also shared a quote from Elder Holland that I liked a
lot. He said that the natural man is like the natural river. It's unhelpful
unless ditches are dug to direct its energy toward useful purposes like
irrigation, etc. therefore I submit that if all else fails, you can always dig
a moat around Jess to minimize her damage to society.
All joking aside, I like the principle behind it. If we
don't have the structure of the gospel in our lives, we'll never reach our full
potential. And Heavenly Father is all about our potential. I think to Him our
potential is more important than where we're at right now. That's why we have
the gift of repentance.
This is week 5 of the transfer, which is crazy. It's gone by
so fast. I've been told by President that I will probably be transferred after
this one. Also, we were never given a mail key for our house and it looks like
it'll take a while to get one, so I might not get mail until next transfer
regardless of what happens (just so any interested parties know, like Mom or
grandmas or attractive young women who want my address. Just covering my
bases).
V. is doing well. We also found this guy named M. who's been
reading the Book of Mormon on his own, and was actually willing to talk to us
about the gospel, so we'll see where that goes.
I don't know if I ever told you about the Peruvian member
that I ran into during exchanges back in Chico, but he's been on my mind
lately. Just some guy that came up to me and another Elder asking for pamphlets
in Spanish, and turned out to be a member recently arrived from Peru to work
here in the U.S. At the time my Spanish wasn't that great so I struggled having
a conversation with him. I always wonder whatever happened with him. Just goes
to show that you have to be ready when the opportunity presents itself.
That's my random thought for the week.
Anyways I love you all and it was great to hear from you. I
hope you're in the middle of a fun week. Give Jess a hug for me.
Love,
Jake
